FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid - 5 Key Takeaways

Barcelona endured another difficult defeat to a big team in Atletico Madrid. Although it was hard to take, it wasn’t a humiliation or thumping like many are suggesting. The starting line-up was fine and Barcelona did control most of the game, albeit lacking penetration. Atletico Madrid didn’t create a lot of chances, they were just very clinical as they always are and then decided to sit back. Barcelona’s defence wasn’t up to it this game, but this has been a problem for years now. This game felt different, it wasn’t ideal whatsoever but it wasn’t shambolic either, so let’s try to break down the game and make something of it.

No one to blame

When Barcelona have been poor this season, it has mostly been down to Koeman. Whether it be the UCL embarrassments or the disappointments in La Liga this season, Koeman’s tactics and player selections have been criticized and righty so. Today though, was different. Koeman was brave enough to play the youngsters from the start and decided to drop Luuk De Jong and Roberto, changes which culers would certainly appreciate. Riqui Puig came on as well. Playing Coutinho as a No.10 did pay off and the rest of the team pretty much picked itself. The system was quite different from what we have seen recently, but Koeman didn’t really have any choices upfront. Frenkie De Jong and Gavi were playing as inverted wingers and you could see the thinking behind it. Frenkie is one of the only players on the team who makes runs in behind and that was what was needed. 

The defence was not up to the mark but was there anything that could be done? The centre backs, pivots and right back were all trying to mark Felix, Suarez, Lemar and Carrasco but they couldn’t keep up with them. Araujo and Mingueza were caught out of position, while Nico, Pique and Busquets failed to cover.  You could see that Busquets and Pique were arguing upon who was going to cover for them. The defence has been bad over the seasons and we haven’t had reinforcements either. The ageing players can’t keep up but we don’t have an option but to play them. The youngsters will make mistakes and that’s fine if they learn from them. 

Atletico Madrid are going from strength to strength while Barcelona are trying to compete with a depleted squad. I’m not trying to be a Koeman apologist here, but can any other manager really turn this team around? Over the past few games, we have criticized Koeman for being defensive, relying on crosses and we have wanted him to stick to the Barcelona philosophy and play the youngsters. That is what Koeman did today, he played the youngsters and we went about dominating the ball, but Simeone’s system nullified that. It was just a matter of more quality and experience today. It wasn’t a toothless performance from Barcelona like we have seen recently. There were certainly quite a few flaws in our play today but it wasn’t all doom and gloom. It was an improved performance today as compared to previous games. Of course, I’m not suggesting Koeman is the right manager for Barcelona. But in this situation, where we can’t afford to sack Koeman and we don’t have good options to replace him, it might just be worth to keep him and provide a bit of stability, only if he continues to build on a particular philosophy, playing style and integrate the youngsters into the team. 

Passive Play - Lack of Penetration 

Barcelona dominated the ball maintaining a possession of 71% in the game. Atletico were inviting the pressure and sitting back as they do. The average positions show that only Felix and Suarez were ahead of the halfway line for Atletico Madrid and the centre backs and midfielders were playing deep in their own half.

Average Positions - Atletico Madrid

Barcelona were of course loaded with midfielders. Coutinho and Memphis too were dropping in. Gavi and De Jong were occupying spaces centrally as well. Again if we take a look at the average positions, Barcelona had no balance, there were too many players in central areas and the fullbacks were isolated on the flanks. Gavi did switch flanks and De Jong played as a central midfielder in the second half so their positioning might be a bit off, but the play was still very much concentrated in the centre.

Average Positions - FC Barcelona

On the other hand, the threat going forward was not through the middle, only 28% of Barcelona’s attacks came through the middle, while 72% came from the flanks. This clearly showcases dismal squad management or rather crisis. With several forward options not available, Barcelona just can’t do much to penetrate the opposition sitting deep. We didn’t have many players who could take on a shot and try to make something happen. There was no one to take on his man 1V1, Coutinho to an extent was doing that and I felt he did have a good game today. He was the only Barcelona player in the starting lineup to register more than a shot and despite him missing a crucial opportunity, he was seemingly the only goal threat. The lack of threat is further explained by the shot positions with 67% of Barcelona’s shots (6) coming from outside the box, whereas Atletico Madrid’s 67% of shots (4) came from inside the 18 yard box. 

Positions of Shots taken

Barcelona, despite dominating the ball were unable to penetrate their way through the Atletico deep block due to a mixture of reasons including a lack of forwards, concentration of play in central areas and an efficient defensive system from Diego Simeone. 

Defensively Exposed 

Barcelona’s defence has been bad for several seasons now. Last season, the three at the back system covered up for its shortcomings to an extent but the personnel is vastly similar. Garcia is a new face but he is not solid defensively either. Ronald Araujo has been able to stay fit and that’s a huge positive, but positionally the defence was exposed against Atletico Madrid. 

The image below shows the positions of the players in the build up to the first goal. We weren’t using any natural wingers, so Frenkie De Jong was more central resulting in an inefficient press on the flanks. Mingueza was the only one providing width on the right flank and was caught out of position. Araujo comes wide to cover for him, Nico is on Lemar and Pique is on Suarez.

Build up to First Goal

Now, Felix receives the ball and still the Atletico forwards are marked by the players. Then Felix turns Araujo quite spectacularly and then is making his way inwards. 

Joao Felix Turn 

Suarez drops a bit deep to receive the ball from Felix. Here, either Busquets or Pique has to cover Suarez but they don’t. Lemar times his run perfectly and Suarez plays a perfect ball.

Suarez drops deep to receive and plays Lemar through

Lemar is through on goal. Here again, Nico loses Lemar and Pique doesn’t track him either. Koeman did criticize Nico after the game, but today the defensive unit as a whole also failed and no one was ready to take responsibility.

Lemar through on goal

The second goal was more of a counter attack from Atletico, Nico and Mingueza were caught out of position and Busquets couldn’t keep up with Lemar. Felix played a simple through ball to Lemar and then it was a 2v1 situation against Pique which resulted in a goal.

Second Goal - Counter Attack

Atletico Madrid do deserve credit for their play in transition. Felix in particular was brilliant, dropping in and receiving the ball and feeding it to Lemar and Suarez. These are certainly mistakes that can be rectified. If the likes of Nico Gonzalez and Mingueza can learn from these mistakes, they can certainly evolve into better players as the season goes on. 

The New Normal - Temper your expectations 

Barcelona are in a transition phase. The veterans are ageing and the youngsters will make mistakes. The squad is severely weakened and many players are out injured. We can not expect to win every single game, especially the big games. Fans keep on complaining about the lack of wins in big games, but is this squad really capable to compete at the highest level? Even when Messi was in the team, we had slip ups against mid table sides and losses against big teams. At this moment of time, these slip ups need to be taken into consideration with caution. The result is only one phase of the game, the playing style is the other. We can not criticize the team based on results in a season like this. The playing style should be the main focus. The tactics, game management and player selections can be criticized, not the results. The sooner fans realize the difficulty of the phase Barcelona are going through, the more open minded we can be.

Ronald Koeman is staying

We all thought this game would be the last one for Koeman in-charge of FC Barcelona. Laporta though, had different plans and decided to back Koeman ahead of the game against Atletico Madrid. This decision might have come about due to a lack of managerial options or an inability to pay off Koeman’s wages. Whatever it may be, it’s seems like a decision that has met with a lot of backlash. I personally am on the fence for this one. The likes of Erik Ten Hag and Marcelo Gallardo would be great options and would certainly improve the team, but would be unwilling to join a Barcelona in crisis. Pirlo is a very poor option in my opinion. Xavi is of course the choice of many fans, but its a risk to appoint such an inexperienced manager and we wouldn’t want his reign to go like how Lampard’s did at Chelsea. Roberto Martinez might be the only option and his stint at Everton doesn’t fill me with much confidence. Koeman might not be doing well at the moment but you can see why that’s happening. As I said, we can criticize the manager for his tactics and player selections, but the results are really out of hand. Keeping Koeman would provide Barcelona with some much needed stability and will only prove fruitful if he still has the backing of the players, continues to play the youngsters and sticks to the Barcelona philosophy.

There you have it, my five key takeaways from the FC Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid match-up. Comment down below what was your main takeaway from the game, share the content and why not check out the previous “5 Key Takeaways” for the Bayern Munich and Levante matches, if you haven’t already. Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you back soon and remember it’s more than a blog.